Biomes as Units of the Biosphere

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines biosphere as “the part of the world in which life can exist.” There are 2.1 million catalogued species known to exist and some scientist estimate as much as 100 million might exist. Each of these species has adapted to life in a particular part of the biosphere. These particular parts are called ecosystems. Since there is a large jump between the biosphere and ecosystems scientists have divided the biosphere into biomes.

In doing research about biomes, it seems that different scientists have different ideas about biomes. They vary in their number just as they vary in their names. Biomes could be called units of the biosphere and each biome is made up of many ecosystems. There are obviously many types of biomes in this world because of the diversity of climates around the world. The fewer number of biomes you choose to say make up our ecosystem, the more general they become. Some scientists obviously believed that more types of biomes are needed to describe the variety of climates in our world.

Some name as few as six biomes to describe the different areas of our biosphere but others name as many as twelve or more. I believe that six is sufficient but there are what you might call sub-biomes of each biome that some would like to differentiate from the others like them.

The taiga biome is the largest of the biomes. It is located in Canada, Europe and Asia. The average temperature of the taiga is below freezing about 6 months out of the year with about 12 to 33 inches of precipitation per year. There is little diversity in plant life. A few broad leaf tree species live in the taiga but mostly evergreen trees are the only ones that have adapted to really thrive in this environment. There are some animals that have adapted to live in the cold and snowy environment. A predator called the ermine has a thick coat of dark fur that turns white in the winter. The snowshoe rabbit also has a fur that turns white in the winter. The wolverine is able to mate during ideal conditions by delayed implantation in which they suspend dormant fertilized eggs until the conditions are ideal for bearing their young.

Rainforests are the most diverse having more than 15 million species living in the biome. The rainforest biome is sometimes separated into two different biomes.